18 Sep
1998
18 Sep
'98
8:27 p.m.
THrowing in my $0.02 here...
At 09:07 PM 9/18/98 -0700, Sam wrote:
Ok, so I have a 15W bulb in series with the P/S and it lit up. The fan
didn't start blowing until the second time I powered up, but its blowing,
albeit very slowly due to the limited power I assume.
When its powered down, give the fan a spin with your finger. It should
spin freely. If not, it should be replaced. The older bronze/oilite
bearings dried out and would start to stiffen up after a souple of years of
operation.
I didn't go the full Tony route because doing so
would've required
desoldering the entire transformer which wasn't an attractive prospect.
True 'nuff... Unless you got a very early IMSAI with the point-to-point
wires PS.
I measured the voltages across a power connector and
got 9.4V, +17.56 and
-17.86. A little high but I attribute that to a lack of a load.
That is actually pretty much normal. Keeping in mind that the mains on the
S-100 bus are unregulated and spec'd (such as it is) at +8 and +/-16VDC to
allow for drop under load without falling out of the 'comfort' range for
the regulators on the individual boards.
At this point I feel pretty comfortable that the P/S is
working pretty
well, which surprised me. I expected a fight (but was hoping for the
results I got). These old machines just refuse to die.
The big 'can' caps are a good deal harder to kill than the minis...
I'm going to let it warm up for about an hour
before I start plugging in
boards.
Never can be too safe. In the case of my PDP-8/i which had not been fired
in a known 10+ years, once I had the supplied spun up I ran it in under
(auto) lamp loads for a little over 6 hours (frequently checking for ripple
with a 'scope) before I started reconnecting logic.
But thats just me... B^}
So... 'fess up. Is this the 'door prize' IMSAI?
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
18 Sep
18 Sep
8:58 p.m.
On Fri, 18 Sep 1998, James Willing wrote:
So... 'fess up. Is this the 'door prize'
IMSAI?
Once this puppy is all restored I'll be sad to see it go. I've had the
case powder-coated (even better than the original...powder coating is
scratch resistant!), I've had the dual disk drive unit I'm including with
it powder-coated to match, it'll have a nice terminal spray-painted to
match both of those. It's totally cleaned up and almost sparkling.
Providing the IMSAI CPU still works, it'll have that, plus 64K of Godbout
RAM, and a Thinker Toys Disk Jockey. I haven't decided what I/O board to
use yet, and I'm thinking about throwing in a Godbout RAM17 (static) and a
System Support 1 (real-time clock/calendar, interrupt controller, math
corprocessor...) for good measure. The bus is the original IMSAI so I'll
probably put a California Computer Systems bus terminator in there help it
out.
In eBay dollars this system would be worth $2000-$3000. Some luck VCF
attendee will go home with it for free. What a steal.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever onward.
September 26 & 27...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 09/12/98]
19 Sep
19 Sep
9:43 a.m.
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12:49 p.m.
On Sat, 19 Sep 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
I actually left it warming for about 4 hours while I ran around trying to
locate boards, manuals, cables, etc. in between other things I need to get
completed for VCF.
Today I plugged in the front panel and a Cromemco ZPU. It worked! The
address LEDs 15, 14 and 13 are sequencing in a binary pattern. I don't
know what this means, but at least it shows life. I got the same results
with another ZPU. I can single-step it and see different stuff happening,
but I have no idea what its doing. I buried my friggin IMSAI manual in a
box a few weeks back.
> When its powered down, give the fan a spin with
your finger. It should
> spin freely. If not, it should be replaced. The older bronze/oilite
> bearings dried out and would start to stiffen up after a souple of years of
> operation.
The fan works just fine with or without power.
Never can be
too safe. In the case of my PDP-8/i which had not been fired
in a known 10+ years, once I had the supplied spun up I ran it in under
(auto) lamp loads for a little over 6 hours (frequently checking for ripple
with a 'scope) before I started reconnecting logic.
No, it's me as well :-). Having once had a PSU fail and take out chips, I
am now _very_ careful when I bring up an unknown PSU. Darn it, on an S100 machine, I'd probably pull the
socketed chips from
each board and test the regulators off-load...
I got your message after I started playing but fortunately everything came
out fine. I don't know if I should be surprised that this stuff is
working as well as it is. Aside from its age, most of this had been
stuffed away in grimy corners of peoples' basements and garages, or worse!
A lot of these boards seem so kludgy with all the patch wires they have.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever onward.
September 26 & 27...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 09/12/98]
2:01 p.m.
New subject: Books for DEC-heads
Lucky me. I went home with a box of old DEC paperbacks today. A nice
assortment of PDP-8, PDP-11 and VAX titles. I don't do DEC (I remember
cherishing the honor of powering-down our development VAXen for the last
time), but the books are small, so I plan to get them all signed by Gordon
Bell at VCF next weekend and stash them away for 100 years or so.
Except for one. This one is not only rare, but seems to be full of useful
info: VAX-11/750 Level II Student Workbork (For Internal Use Only). This
looks like it would be great for somebody who wants a pretty deep
understanding of the VAX architecture, including microcode, the WCS,
unibus, the works. I'm not good at estimating page count, but it's
double-sided 8.5x11x2". If some DEC-head could use this, let me know.
Offer me a trade of, say, your spare Intel MCS-4 manual and it's yours :-)
-- Doug
9:41 p.m.
New subject: Books for DEC-heads
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21 Sep
21 Sep
9:41 p.m.
New subject: Decomposing Books (was: Re: Books for DEC-heads)
On Sat, 19 Sep 1998 sethm(a)loomcom.com wrote:
Ack! Something else to worry about!
Lucky me. I
went home with a box of old DEC paperbacks today. A nice
assortment of PDP-8, PDP-11 and VAX titles. I don't do DEC (I remember
cherishing the honor of powering-down our development VAXen for the last
time), but the books are small, so I plan to get them all signed by Gordon
Bell at VCF next weekend and stash them away for 100 years or so.
They won't last more than 20 years, sorry :) Seriously, all the DEC processor and programming
paperbacks I've come
accross are printed on highly acidic paper, almost newsprint quality.
I actually have a couple of DEC paperbacks (lucky me) and both are indeed
in bad shape. The paper is very yellow.
They can be de-acidified, if it's not too late.
Check by gently
folding back a small corner of one of the pages, then folding it back
the other way; if it snaps off, the book is too far gone to be saved.
If it stays attached, there's hope.
I can't get to my "Introduction to Programming" book from the PDP-8
handbook series right now (which is in really sad shape paperwise), but
I've just checked my "decsystem10 mathematical languages handbook", and it
still passes the test. It smells funny, though, and I don't think the
smell is cigarette smoke.
(And on the cigarette smoke front, I'm happy to report that my Amiga
Hardware Reference Manual and RKM: Exec manual no longer send out a
suffocating stench of tobacco when I flip the pages! I guess it must have
been humid this summer.)
I also have other historical documents that are in similar condition to
the DEC books (most notably volumes 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 of Ernesto Che
Guevara's "Escritos y discursos" which I still haven't read because I
don't speak Spanish). As a result, I would be very interested in hearing
if anyone has success in deacidifying books.
Check out Doug Jones's excellent page about
bookbinding and preserving
old paperbacks at http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/book/index.html
This page itself deals with photocopying and binding mainly, but there are
some excellent links from this page which deal with deacidification. I
like the look of Paprican's Dry Deacidification Method... it looks like
something I might be able to manage on my own if I can locate the
materials. I'll have to look at some of the other processes as well.
-Seth
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
10:29 p.m.
New subject: Decomposing Books (was: Re: Books for DEC-heads)
Doug Spence wrote:
You'll find some of the best resources at comic book shops.
--
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram@cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked me if I had any
firearms with me. I said "Well, what do you need?" -- Steven Wright
(And on the cigarette smoke front, I'm happy to
report that my Amiga
Hardware Reference Manual and RKM: Exec manual no longer send out a
suffocating stench of tobacco when I flip the pages! I guess it must have
been humid this summer.)
Some of us _like_ the smell of cigarette smoke -- it's a clue that at
one point somebody actually read the book instead of using it as a
static display. All of my books smell of cigarette smoke, so do all
of my computers.
I also have other historical documents that are in
similar condition to
the DEC books (most notably volumes 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 of Ernesto Che
Guevara's "Escritos y discursos" which I still haven't read because I
don't speak Spanish). As a result, I would be very interested in hearing
if anyone has success in deacidifying books.
It isn't necessary to speak a language to read it. I don't speak
Spanish (unless I drop a brick on my foot -- then I speak the street
Mexican I learned growing up in LA), French, German or Latin --
but I read them with occasional glances at dictionaries.
Check out Doug
Jones's excellent page about bookbinding and preserving
old paperbacks at http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/book/index.html
This page itself deals with photocopying and binding mainly, but there are
some excellent links from this page which deal with deacidification. I
like the look of Paprican's Dry Deacidification Method... it looks like
something I might be able to manage on my own if I can locate the
materials. I'll have to look at some of the other processes as well. 
20 Sep
20 Sep
12:58 p.m.
New subject: Books for DEC-heads
Doug Yowza writes:
Offer me a trade of, say, your spare Intel MCS-4
manual and it's yours :-)
I don't need a VAX-11/750 book (even if it is phenomenally rare), but I
do have an MCS-4 manual. I'm not letting it out of my sight, but my arm
could perhaps be twisted to scan it and provide a PDF file.
I wonder if Intel would be willing to grant permission for online
distribution of their out-of-print manuals?
Eric
1:39 p.m.
New subject: Books for DEC-heads
On 20 Sep 1998, Eric Smith wrote:
I don't need a VAX-11/750 book (even if it is
phenomenally rare), but I
do have an MCS-4 manual. I'm not letting it out of my sight, but my arm
could perhaps be twisted to scan it and provide a PDF file.
Twwwwwist. There, how's that?
I wonder if Intel would be willing to grant permission
for online
distribution of their out-of-print manuals?
Probably, but you'd need to wind through countless intelcrats and lawyers.
It would be easier to simply publish the thing, and let them find you if
they care enough. You can blame me if they want to sue you.
-- Doug
21 Sep
21 Sep
7:18 a.m.
New subject: Books for DEC-heads
Doug, I would really like to get my hands on the PDP-8 titles. Are you
looking to trade something for them perhaps? What are you interested in
collecting?
--Chuck
Doug Yowza wrote:
Lucky me. I went home with a box of old DEC paperbacks today. A nice
assortment of PDP-8, PDP-11 and VAX titles. I don't do DEC (I remember
cherishing the honor of powering-down our development VAXen for the last
time), but the books are small, so I plan to get them all signed by Gordon
Bell at VCF next weekend and stash them away for 100 years or so.
Except for one. This one is not only rare, but seems to be full of useful
info: VAX-11/750 Level II Student Workbork (For Internal Use Only). This
looks like it would be great for somebody who wants a pretty deep
understanding of the VAX architecture, including microcode, the WCS,
unibus, the works. I'm not good at estimating page count, but it's
double-sided 8.5x11x2". If some DEC-head could use this, let me know.
Offer me a trade of, say, your spare Intel MCS-4 manual and it's yours :-)
-- Doug
9430
days inactive
9433
days old
10 comments
9 participants
participants (9)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
cmcmanis＠freegate.com -
dastar＠ncal.verio.com -
ds_spenc＠alcor.concordia.ca -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
gram＠cnct.com -
jimw＠agora.rdrop.com -
sethm＠loomcom.com -
yowza＠yowza.com